


Eddie's Girl

by 0207027



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Eddie Kaspbrak Gets a Girlfriend, Gay Richie Tozier, Jealous Richie Tozier, M/M, Modern Era, Oblivious Richie Tozier, Pining Richie Tozier, Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris Are Best Friends, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier is Bad at Feelings, Richie Tozier is a Mess, basically richie thinks he is jealous because he likes eddie's girlfriend, it could be canon era too but it seems more modern, or maybe not, spoiler alert: that's not why, this is based on the song Jessie's Girl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22142788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0207027/pseuds/0207027
Summary: Eddie gets a girlfriend and Richie is jealous. It must be because he has feelings for Eddie's girlfriend, right?(the Jessie’s Girl reddie fanfic no one asked for)
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Original Female Character(s), Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 23
Kudos: 147





	Eddie's Girl

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by an anonymous prompt I received on my tumblr (@motherfuckingtozier) asking for "jealous Richie" and the song Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield.
> 
> This could be Modern era or Canon era depending on how you look at it. Either way it is just Richie being an oblivious, jealous dumbass. Enjoy!

When Eddie told the Losers he was going on a date Richie scoffed.  _ Eddie Spaghetti on a date? With a girl? _ He was sure that it was going to be a disaster, not because Eddie would be a bad date, in fact he would probably be a great date. Eddie could actually be quite charming when he wanted to be. However, Eddie didn’t  _ like _ the girl he was going out with. His mom had set it up, apparently she was the daughter of one of Mrs. Kaspbrak’s friends, some home-schooled violin prodigy. So in other words, she was bound to be a stick in the mud. Richie shook his head as Eddie talked about the “date plan” -- dinner at a local diner and a movie at the Aladdin.  _ How boring. _ Richie could think of a million things Eddie and him could do that would be more interesting than taking some prissy Sonia Kaspbrak Jr. to dinner and a movie. 

The whole week before the date Richie had to listen to Eddie prattle on and on about it. Richie knew Eddie was just nervous, that he didn’t want to embarass himself, but it was still difficult to listen to him plan and re-plan every moment of the date, every word he would say to his beloved  _ Amy _ . It was also ridiculous just how many worst-case scenarios Eddie could think up in that weird little brain of his, worrying about what would happen if he didn’t have enough money on him, if his shoe came untied and he face planted into a plate of pasta, if she turned out to be a soul-sucking demon in disguise. Okay, that last one was Richie’s suggestion, but it had made Eddie smile and pulled him out of his anxiety-ridden spiral.

Bev helped Eddie plan what he would wear and Ben gave him advice on being romantic. Eddie rolled his eyes at the suggestion that he learn some poetry.  _ That’s a great idea Ben, _ Richie said, winking at Eddie,  _ you can tell her this one: ‘roses are red, violets are blue, I love your tits, and your ass too’.  _ Eddie suppressed a laugh behind his hand and Richie felt it was worth the punch on the arm from Bev and the withering glare from Ben.

When the day of the date finally arrived, the final bell ringing to release them from the prison they called Derry High, all the Losers wished Eddie luck.  _ There’s no shame in escaping out a bathroom window _ Richie had joked before throwing his arm over Eddie’s shoulders,  _ seriously though Eds, don’t be too bummed if this doesn’t work out, Mr. Clean’s probably got a daughter. _ Eddie just shoved him with a huff, flipping him the bird before biking off in the direction of his house.

When Eddie arrived at Bill’s the next day with a huge grin on his face, gushing about how  _ sweet _ and  _ cool _ Amy was Richie was surprised. After 20 minutes of Bev’s incessant prodding Eddie recounted the whole date in excruciating detail, even admitting with a blush that  _ Ames _ had kissed him on the cheek at the end of the night. Richie wondered if he had wiped it off, knowing Eddie and his germ-phobia.  _ I don’t know, Eds. Are you sure you aren’t going full Oedipus on us? Cause I’d believe that before I believe Mrs. K has a friend with a cool, hot daughter. _ Eddie bristled at that,  _ you’re just jealous Trashmouth. _ Richie hadn’t realized just how right he was.

After three weeks of  _ Ames  _ this and  _ Ames  _ that Eddie finally decided it was time for her to meet his friends. They officially considered themselves dating and Eddie had even referred to her as his girlfriend, though he refused to answer Richie when he asked if they had consummated that status with a real kiss yet. Bill offered to throw a get-together at his house with all the Losers so that Eddie could introduce them. Richie thought it was cheesy, but it was what Eddie wanted.

It wasn’t until he met Amy that he understood why Eddie was so obsessed with her. Richie had imagined she would look, well, dorky. Maybe even a bit like Mrs. K herself. Richie was wrong -- Amy was a  _ bombshell _ . She had wavy blonde hair that fell just past her shoulders and the most vibrant green eyes Richie had ever seen, which when paired with her supermodel physique made her seem almost inhumanly perfect, like some kind of drop-dead gorgeous alien. Even more ridiculously, she had a great personality. She was shy when Eddie and her first arrived at Bill’s, sticking close to Eddie’s side and offering little in terms of conversation, but once she had the chance to observe the dynamic of the group she jumped right in, making jokes and telling animated stories about herself and her siblings. When Eddie put his arm around her waist to lead her to the couch Richie felt his stomach twist up in knots. He had to excuse himself to the bathroom where he splashed cold water on his face until he felt like he could think clearly again.

It wasn’t fair just how great a couple Eddie and Amy were. Amy’s bright features complemented Eddie’s darker ones, Amy’s bubbly personality balanced Eddie’s snarky grumpiness. Even Amy’s quirks around organization and cleanliness matched up with Eddie’s. Richie guessed their mom’s were friends for a reason, and it was clear that neither had come out completely free of the neurotic compulsions their mothers tried to instill in them. Richie knew he was supposed to be happy for Eddie, but instead he felt a burning pit of anger and sadness and jealousy. Richie liked Amy.

At first he wasn’t sure why he felt so angry whenever Amy tagged along to Loser hangouts, why he felt like he wanted to cry when Eddie cancelled their weekly comic-reading session to take her to get ice cream, why he felt so  _ dirty _ whenever Eddie or Amy did anything remotely romantic. It didn’t hit him until they were at the quarry, Eddie and Amy engaged in a brutal chicken fight with Mike and Bill. As Richie watched on he realized he wanted to be there, playing and laughing and  _ touching _ . He wanted to be Eddie. He wanted Amy.  _ Fuck _ .

After realizing his crush Richie spent a lot of time ruminating on how terrible he was. Eddie was his  _ best friend _ for God’s sake, he loved him and he never wanted anything to ever come between them, so how could he be stupid enough to form a crush on Eddie’s girlfriend? Eddie was happy and Richie could  _ never _ do anything to jeopardize Eddie’s happiness, so he knew he would have to find some way to get over this.

His first plan was to flirt the crush out of his system. Maybe it seemed counter-productive, but Richie figured if he could prove to himself that Amy and him had no chemistry he could forget about the whole thing and everything would go back to normal. So Richie flirted. He used all sorts of shitty pick-up lines, chatted with Amy about her siblings (who were more boring with each story she told), and even complimented her outfits. He knew it pissed Eddie off, his little fists clenched, his eyebrows scrunching together adorably whenever Richie winked at Amy, but it was the lesser of the two evils. Either Richie flirted it out of his system and pissed Eddie off in the meantime, or he did something exponentially more stupid and relationship damaging, like confessing to Eddie that he had a crush on his girlfriend. In the end, it didn’t work. Richie learned far more about the violin than he ever cared to know, got a lecture from Bill about how his pick-up lines were making everyone uncomfortable, and earned more than a few disapproving glares from Stan.

His second plan was more ambitious, but Richie was willing to try anything. It was reaching the point where Eddie and Amy spent more time in each other’s personal space than out of it, leaving Richie near constantly nauseous. If it was a relationship Richie wanted, then he would have to find a girl to have one with. When Richie tried imagining himself in a relationship with any of the girls at school he found he just didn’t really feel right about it, but that was clearly because he already had feelings for Amy. He figured he just needed to spend time with them, get to know them first. The problem was that meant asking a girl out. Richie knew he wasn’t the best looking (though he had certainly started to grow into his looks) and that he wasn’t necessarily good at being smooth, so he enlisted the help of Mike and Ben. They refused to use code names, but did agree to be his wingmen.

Richie set his sights on Tricia Gehring, a girl in his social studies class who had borrowed him a pencil almost every day since the class began. She was pretty, with auburn curls and hazel eyes, and he figured he had a chance with her. Not only was she nice to him, but she wasn’t overly popular either. She was more likely to say yes than any other girl he knew. So with that in mind he prepared his strategy with Mike and Ben, going over the exact phrasing, timing, and location over and over again. He decided not to tell Eddie that he was asking anyone out, just in case it didn’t work out and he embarrassed himself. 

He caught Tricia after the final bell rang and offered to take her out to dinner, to repay her for all the pencils she had borrowed him (the phrasing was all Ben’s idea). He tried to seem as confident as possible, straightening his posture and smiling just as Mike had coached him. To his relief, Tricia agreed, giving him her phone number so they could plan it later that night. Richie walked away smiling, but still didn’t tell Eddie about it as they biked home. He didn’t know how to broach the subject, it felt too weird.

Once the plans were in the works, they were going to get dinner at a local diner and hit the movies afterwards, Richie started to feel nervous. When he tried to decide what to wear he felt the familiar knotting in his stomach, and his hands shook when he considered whether or not he should kiss her on the first date. He wanted to call Eddie, to ask him what he thought about all of it, but he didn’t know how he could talk to Eddie about it knowing that it was all to get over his stupid crush on Amy. Instead he settled for imagining Eddie was there, choosing what he should wear (a plain button up with his nicest pair of jeans) and advising him to take things slow.

The date was nothing short of a disaster. Richie, for once in his life, could not think of anything to say, and Tricia seemed to get more bored by his awkward pauses and Bill-level stuttering by the second. He almost wished he would trip over his shoelace into some pasta, because at least then he would have an excuse to go home and leave the tense, embarrassing dinner. It went so poorly, in fact, that Tricia claimed to have a headache, going home before they even got the chance to go to the movies. At least Richie saved a few dollars, even if his plan didn’t work.

It’s about a week after the failed date that Richie realizes he needs an outsider perspective. Eddie brings Amy to nearly every Losers hangout session, and even though they are less lovey dovey now, Richie still wants to crawl into a hole and die every time they touch in front of him. Even more pressing than that, Richie misses Eddie. Ever since Eddie started dating Amy Richie felt like he couldn’t be around him for too long, because inevitably Amy would come up in the conversation and Richie would get overwhelmed and want to leave. Richie just wanted to spend quality time with his friend again without his heart being ripped in two. That is how he arrived at the idea of consulting with Stan. Stan, while judgemental, was honest and never afraid to call Richie on his shit. If anyone could help him stop being a fucking asshole about this it was Stan.

“I just don’t know what to do Stan, I’ve tried everything I can think of! I tried to rationalize it away, I tried to prove to myself that we wouldn’t make a good match by flirting with her, I tried to date someone else to forget about it, but nothing has changed! I still feel awful every time I see Eddie and her together.” Richie finishes telling Stan his tale of woe, dramatically flopping back onto Stan’s bed to emphasize his desperation.

“You are truly the dumbest person I know.” Stan says dryly, shaking his head as he looks at Richie. He had been quiet up until now, letting Richie spill out all of the details of his teen angst, but now that Richie was done Stan was ready to knock some common sense into him.

“Staniel, doesn’t God say not to kick a man when he is down? Shameful.” Richie feigns shock, clutching at his chest with one hand.

“I think God would make an exception in your case, considering how stupid you are. You aren’t crushing on Amy, Rich.” Stan says it so matter-of-factly, as though he isn’t contradicting the whole premise of everything Richie just shared with him.

“ _ What? _ Of course I am. Staniel, Stan the Man, have you not listened to a word I’ve said? I literally told you I thought she was a  _ bombshell. _ ” Richie feels the exasperation coming through in his tone.  _ What the hell did Stan mean? The whole problem was that he had a crush on Amy. _

“Richie, just because you find her objectively attractive does not mean you like her. You said it yourself, when you flirted with her you found her  _ boring _ . That doesn’t sound like a crush to me.” Stan speaks slowly, like he is talking to a child. Richie would be more offended if he didn’t need the extra time to process what Stan was saying.  _ Stan does have a point, I don’t really find her all that interesting. So what is it about her that makes me so jealous? _

“Okay, say you’re right, I don’t have a crush on Amy. Why the  _ hell _ do I feel so jealous whenever I see her and Eddie together then?” Richie feels smug as he says it.  _ Checkmate, Stan. Maybe you’re not so smart after all. _

“Easy, you have a crush on Eddie.” Richie thinks his jaw must hit the floor.  _ Him? A crush on Eddie? That’s preposterous. _

“I do  _ not _ have a crush on Eddie!” Richie really wishes his voice didn’t come out so shrill, but the whole idea was so crazy, he couldn’t believe Stan would even propose it.

“Richie, think about it. How does being around Eddie make you feel?” Stan sounds tired as he says it, like Richie is wearing on his patience.  _ Fuck you Stan, I’m wearing on your patience? You’re the one accusing me of having a crush on my best friend!  _

But Richie does as Stan requested and thinks about how Eddie makes him feel. How his laugh makes Richie’s heart flutter. How Richie can’t help but smile whenever Eddie does. How much Richie loves the way his eyebrows crease together when he is frustrated or confused. How much Richie loves to banter with him, reveling in the snarky comebacks and angry huffs he earns. How content Richie is to just sit next to him in comfortable silence, reading comics. How Richie wants to spend all his time with Eddie, making him smile and laugh and seeing him flush adorably whenever Richie pisses him off.  _ Fuck. _

“I like Eddie.” Richie half whispers it, feeling light-headed and shell-shocked.

“I’m proud of you for finally figuring it out.” Stan says, and his tone is teasing. Richie would snark back at him but he doesn’t have the mental capacity, too caught up in his revelation.

“ _ Fuck. _ Stan, I  _ like _ Eddie. What the fuck am I going to do? Oh god what if he finds out? Oh no this is going to ruin everything!” Richie feels the panic start to settle in his chest.  _ What if Eddie finds out and thinks I’m creepy? What if -- _

“Richie, calm down.  _ Hey _ \-- “ Stan is suddenly hovering over him, putting his hand on his shoulder, “take a few deep breaths.” Richie listens, feeling his heartbeat steady as he slowly breathes in.

“It’s going to be okay. Even if Eddie finds out it won’t be a big deal, Eddie loves you. You having a crush on him won’t change that.” Stan’s voice is stern and steady, and Richie feels the panic fully disipate.  _ Stan’s right, Eddie would never hate me. He’s too good for that. _

“Okay. I have a crush on Eddie. Thanks for the information, Stanny, but it doesn’t fix my whole ‘get so jealous I want to throw up’ problem.” Richie feels his cheeks flush a bit as he says it. Even though he had already told Stan all about his problem, it somehow felt more embarrassing knowing it was Amy he was jealous of, not Eddie.

“That’s less easy.” Stan admits, laying down on the bed next to Richie.

“Though I think we can come up with something better than flirting with Eddie until you stop crushing on him, which makes  _ no _ sense by the way, or going on awful dates with people you clearly have no interest in.” Stan laughs when Richie pokes him in the side to retaliate.

“I don’t know Stan. Maybe there isn’t anything we can really do? Eddie has a girlfriend who is like,  _ incredibly _ perfect for him, and they seem happy. I don’t want to wreck that.” Richie’s voice sounds more sad than he expected it to.

“I’m sorry Richie, I know it sucks. You can always talk to me, though.” Stan smiles at him, and Richie smiles back. Sure, it sucked to be crushing on his best friend, especially because said best friend was straight and in a relationship, but he still had a lot of good things in his life.

“Does this mean I’m gay?” Richie says suddenly, the thought having just occurred to him.

“Well it definitely means you aren’t straight.” Stan’s tone is deadpan, but he’s smiling.

“Oh my god, this opens up a whole new category of dick jokes for me.” Richie grins, already thinking about what one he wants to use first. Stan just rolls his eyes. Maybe things would turn out fine, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm thinking I may write a second chapter, just because I can't stand to end it without my favorite boys being together. Let me know if that is something you might want :)


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